Prospective associations between sedentary behaviour and incident depressive symptoms in older people: a 15-month longitudinal cohort study

Abstract Background Knowledge is scarce on how needs for home help and special housing evolve among older people who begin to receive support from municipal social care. The purpose of this study was to describe baseline distributions and transitions over time between levels of dependency among older persons after being granted social care in a Swedish municipality. Methods Based on a longitudinal cohort study in a Swedish municipality, data was collected retrospectively from municipal records. All persons 65 years or older who received their first decision on social care during 2010 (n = 415) were categorized as being in mild, moderate, severe, or total dependency, and were observed until the end of 2013. Baseline distributions and transitions over time were described descriptively and analysed with survival analysis, with the Kaplan-Meier estimator, over the entire follow-up period. To test potential differences in relation to gender, we used the Cox-Proportional hazards model. Results Baseline distributions between mild, moderate, severe, and total dependency were 53, 16, 24, and 7.7%. During the first year, between 40 and 63% remained at their initial level of dependency. Among those with mild and moderate levels of dependency at baseline, a large proportion declined towards increasing levels of dependency over time; around 40% had increased their dependency level 1 year from baseline and at the end of the follow-up, 75% had increased their dependency level or died. Conclusions Older people in Sweden being allocated home help are at high risk for decline towards higher levels of dependency, especially those at mild or moderate dependency levels at baseline. Taken together, it is important that municipalities make use of existing knowledge so that they implement cost-effective preventative interventions for older people at an early stage before a decline toward increasing levels of dependency.

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Mental health trajectories in undergraduate students over the first year of university: a longitudinal cohort study

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047393 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. e047393

Author(s):

Kiera Louise Adams ◽

Kate E Saunders ◽

Charles Donald George Keown-Stoneman ◽

Anne C Duffy

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Drug Use ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Well Being ◽

Longitudinal Cohort Study ◽

First Year ◽

Longitudinal Cohort ◽

First Year University ◽

Academic Year

ObjectiveThis study examined the association between candidate psychosocial and lifestyle variables and the trajectories of clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms from entry to completion of first-year university.DesignA longitudinal cohort studyParticipantsFirst-year undergraduate studentsMethodsWe analysed the responses of 1686 first-year undergraduate students attending Queen’s University who completed electronic surveys at both the beginning and completion of their academic year. Predictors of change in positive anxiety and depressive symptom screens (based on exceeding validated symptom threshold scores) were identified using logistic regression.ResultsIncreased university connectedness reduced the odds of emergent significant depressive and anxiety symptoms in healthy students and increased the odds of recovery in students who screened positive at the start of university. Students who screened positive for depression or anxiety at university entry were less likely to recover if they had a lifetime history of internalising disorders. Healthy students who increased their drug use over their first year had higher odds of developing significant levels of both anxiety and depressive symptoms by completion of the academic year.ConclusionsModerate to severe levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms are common among students at entry to university and persist over the first year. University connectedness may mitigate the risk of persistent or emergent symptoms, whereas drug use appears to increase these risks. Findings have implications for university well-being initiatives.

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